Vulcano

Vulcano
View of Vulcano from the island of Lipari.
Highest point
Elevation	501 m (1,644 ft)
Prominence	501 m (1,644 ft)
Coordinates	38°24′15″N 14°57′57″E / 38.4042°N 14.9658°E / 38.4042; 14.9658Coordinates: 38°24′15″N 14°57′57″E / 38.4042°N 14.9658°E / 38.4042; 14.9658
Geography
Vulcano and the Aeolian Islands.
Location	Aeolian Islands, Italy
Geology
Mountain type	Complex stratovolcanoes
Last eruption	1888 to 1890

Vulcano (Sicilian: Vurcanu) is a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 25 km (16 mi) north of Sicily and the southernmost of the eight Aeolian Islands. It is 21 km² (8 sq mi) in area, rises to 499 m (1,637 ft) above sea level, and contains several volcanic centres, including one of four active non-submarine volcanoes in Italy.

The Romans used the island mainly for raw materials, harvesting wood and mining alum and sulfur. This was the principal activity on the island until the end of the 19th Century.

When the Bourbon rule collapsed in 1860 a British man named James Stevenson bought the northern part of the island, built a villa, reopened the local mines and planted vineyards for grapes that would later be used to make Malmsey wine. Stevenson lived on Vulcano until the last major eruption on the island, in 1888. The eruption lasted the better part of two years, by which time Stevenson had sold all of his property to the local populace, and never returned to the island. The villa is still intact.

The volcanic activity in the region is largely the result of the northward-moving African Plate meeting the Eurasian Plate. There are three volcanic centres on the island:

Vulcano has been quiet since the eruption of the Fossa cone on 3 August 1888 to 1890, which deposited about 5 m (16 ft) of pyroclastic material on the summit. The style of eruption seen on the Fossa cone is called a Vulcanian eruption, being the explosive emission of pyroclastic fragments of viscous magmas caused by the high viscosity preventing gases from escaping easily. This eruption of Vulcano was carefully documented at the time by Giuseppe Mercalli. Mercalli described the eruptions as "...Explosions sounding like a cannon at irregular intervals..." As a result, vulcanian eruptions are based on this description. A typical vulcanian eruption can hurl blocks of solid material several hundreds of metres from the vent. Mercalli reported blocks from the 1888-1890 eruption fell in the sea between Vulcano and Lipari, several were photographed by him or his assistants that had fallen on the island of Vulcano.